baby or adult

Should I get a baby or an adult as my first snake? I love adults more than babies but I wanna watch my snake grow up

It's really up to you and what you want to get out of the experience or what you feel comfortable with handling. I was originally planning to get an adult or yearling snake as my first but when I went to the breeder I ended up really liking one of the 4 month old babies so that's what I ended up with.

Pros and cons of getting an adult snake:

Pros
- Won't need to go through figuring out what size prey they should be eating as they grow or transitioning them from mice to rats...etc.
- You get what you see -- the colouring of adults won't change
- Adults will have a more established personality, whereas babies can start off nippy and may or may not calm down or change as they grow

Cons
- Don't get to watch it grow up and change
- Babies are cute
- Don't know the background of the snake (its experiences with handling, any bad experiences it might have had)

I recommend getting a baby, so that you can raise it in your environment and it will associate YOU with its environment.
Then again... I’ve bought some really friendly adults.
If you want a fairly affordable morph, then adults are a good choice. If you want something more exotic, the adults will be slim pickings as very expensive breeders.
Better to get a hatchling in that case.


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You can also split the difference and go with a yearling. You still get a fairly young snake that you can watch grow, but have the benefit of a larger animal that has been regularly feeding. Both my mojave and banana mojave were purchased as yearlings.

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Originally Posted by Dianne

You can also split the difference and go with a yearling. You still get a fairly young snake that you can watch grow, but have the benefit of a larger animal that has been regularly feeding. Both my mojave and banana mojave were purchased as yearlings.

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And especially if you are new to keeping snakes, hatchlings or neonates (as the live-born snakes are called) are delicate & shouldn't be handled much until they're
solid eaters & a little bigger. Even then, they are delicate. A much better choice is a yearling...it's still smaller than an adult, but has a better survival chance too.
(With a hatchling/neonate snake, there is always a very slim chance that some internal issue will result in their failure to thrive, even those that seem fine at first.)

Also, many breeders hold some back & after about a year may decide to further whittle down their choices & sell a few that they weren't sure about, so it's possible
to find a very nice "hold-back" available for purchase...but keep in mind that with more "invested in the snake", the price will normally be somewhat higher...but
again, that's a nice trade off for having a stronger & well-started young snake.

However, IF the breeder is one of those that is simply "maintenance-feeding" snakes they always planned to sell anyway, I'd steer clear. They may or may not admit
to this practice, but when a snake is unusually small for the stated age, that's how you can tell. Maintenance feeding may or may not impact their long-term health...
& personally, I don't think it's right. (It's done so that snakes stay small & more appealing as "babies" & are easier to house & haul around to shows to sell.) But ask
yourself, would you do that to a child? -give them only enough food to survive but not grow? No...you want them to have strong bones, a strong immune system, etc.

For a first snake, I'd recommend a yearling. It will take some of the pressure off you, as it will already be a well-established feeder with a 'track record'. ;)
Some hatchlings feed for the breeder, but the stress of going to a new home is frightening...add to that some handling (that few owners can resist, even
though they should :rolleyes:), and they can be hard to get feeding again. That = stress for you AND the snake. You'll feel much more confident with a yearling.

I always considered my plans for it when thinking about this. :cool:

If I was buying the morph for breeding I like to get babies so I know their whole history in terms of how fast they gain weight and how their eating pattern is regarding winter fasting etc to help me decide when they could be ready to breed.

If I'm buying it as either a pet or just eye candy then I'm a little more open to older animals. :)


del

At first I wanted an adult size ball python but I ended up buying a hatchling because it was so darn cute
I'm glad I did now because I can raise it up the way I want. He is actually not head shy anymore he lets you pet him on the head but I can't wait until he does get big

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I just bought my first BP back in October. I bought a 4 month old snake, but it was 175 grams when I bought. I enjoyed the peace of mind that it had been eating good and that I could trust the breeder that I wasn't getting a trouble feeder but a reliable f/t eater. Maybe this is an option... Not a neonate, but a well-started juvenile.